Beautiful People | Valentine's Edition

Irony seems to haunt me. Musing briefly over which two characters to include in this Beautiful People post, the "couple" that I chose was probably the least qualified to fill the vacancy. But since various demographics have been working long + hard at busting wider the defined borders of "Valentine's Day," I don't feel sketchy spotlighting a couple which is not really actually in any way a couple.

valentius the dead + chivalry which is probably likewise

You can read a lot about St. Valentine because nobody actually knows anything about him. Because the playing field is so alluringly wide open, I'm going to casually ignore all amourous glosses on the concept; that leaves me with the notion of chivalry as such - which is the real root of the irony, for this couple exhibits a breed of chivalry which was never raised in the green fields of L'Occitanian.

ADAMANTINE + THE BLUE DUKE

1. HOW + WHY DID THEY MEET?
Well, how would be telling, wouldn't it. They met, or they chose to meet, because they were both fish out of water & both of them fish unable to swim back to their accustomed pools. (yay, the old exile motif)

2. WHAT WERE THEIR FIRST IMRESSIONS?

I jolted. Countersunwise to the light I looked round and found a doorway above me, stone-keyed and red-shaded by the earthen surroundings, and occupied by a fairy who looked back down at me with a hard-bitten, angular face devoid of any judgment. But it was devoid, also, of compassion, and in a blink I was put in mind both of Miss Coventry and of a moment in the hall of the Haloed Swan which my shock had swallowed until jogged by the fairy’s reappearance. I remembered him, like one remembering a premonition. There he had been as he stood now: on the periphery of things, with that same disinterested, dispassionate expression. My eyes in shock had seen him, the one colourless thing in that sea of screaming hues, and he had seen me. He had seen me with a look like a touch—I remembered that. But I remembered also that he had turned away, as if the brush were commonplace, and he had no desire to continue the connection.

3. HOW WOULD THEY PROVE THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER?
In defiance of chivalry...I don't believe they would "prove their love." Their regard for each other is apparent to them both, & Adamantine is far too genteel - & the Blue Duke too unsentimental - to attempt such an uncomfortable venture as "proving one's love."

4. WHAT WOULD BE THEIR IDEAL DATE?

A flat, sardonic smile cut across his face for an instant. With a rustle-flutter of wings, he moved to my side and pried back the cover of the book. I sat like a hare under an eagle’s eye, electrically terrified that he was so close, smelling to me of the weird, the bizarre, and something indefinable which reminded me of home.
With a word—here? there?—he indicated a page for me, full of running text which leapt shouting out at me like crowds of babel. With a crooked finger, his blue-veined hand coursed the page downward, settling beneath a line so that I saw nothing else. With his other hand, he pointed across the enclosure the animals, belly-deep in shadow and munching on their hay.
He said a word. His finger tapped the page.Dear Lord! I sighed. He is trying to teach me Latin.

5. IS THERE SOMETHING THEY EMPHATICALLY DISAGREE ON?

"The Blue Duke, has he not lost the honour of his people? Is he not chattel-chained to my command? Is he not a reed shaken by the wind? I have no fear of him."

6. WHAT'S ONE THING THEY KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER WHICH NO ONE ELSE KNOWS?
If there is something, we haven't got there yet. I guess you'll have to stick around until I find out myself.

7. WHAT'S ONE THING THEY KEEP A SECRET FROM EACH OTHER?
On the Blue Duke's part, probably 98% of what he is thinking; on Adamantine's part, probably 2%. XD

8. HOW WOULD THEIR LIVES BE DIFFERENT WITHOUT EACH OTHER?
Upon reflection, I think the Blue Duke is spared a quiet + unobtrusive suicide - not anything to make a statement, but just to finish things off. Adamantine herself would not be totally destitute, but there is something to be said (nyuck nyuck) for someone you can actually converse with.

9. WHERE DO THEY EACH SEE THIS RELATIONSHIP GOING?
I dare say it's bound to go along much the way it has been; the only thing that would upset its course would be the future as wrangled by the powers that be. As much as is possible between them, they constitute friends, & friendship, on a peaceable track, will only improve, not change, with age.

(i skipped the question about food because a: they would be unlikely to dine in the same vicinity + b: i have no thoughts on their food at present. check back in another two years er so i don't actually know when i'll write this story for good)

hey! that was probably super boring but it made me write for the first time in two months, so i'm not even mad. one day i'll get to this story + i'm really looking forward to it. thanks for reading!